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2023,
2022,
2021,
2020,
2019,
2018,
2017,
2016,
2015 |
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2014, 2013,
2012,
2011,
2010,
2009,
2008,
2007,
2006,
2005,
2004 |
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July 2023 |
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AUKUS and Critical Minerals: Hedging Beijing’s Pervasive, Clever and
Coordinated Statecraft, June 2023. AUKUS has a heavy
focus on R&D of military capabilities. A number of departments,
including defence, foreign affairs and prime ministerial equivalents are
engaged. The science and technology to deliver those capabilities must
resolve issues of insecure supply chains. Currently, supply chains for
processed critical minerals and their resulting materials aren’t
specifically included. Yet all AUKUS capabilities, and the rules-based
order that they uphold, depend heavily on critical minerals. China
eclipses not only AUKUS for processing those minerals into usable forms,
but the rest of the world combined. Without critical minerals, states
are open to economic coercion in various technological industries, and
defence manufacturing is particularly exposed to unnecessary
supply-chain challenges... |
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ASPI |
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North of 26 Degrees South and the Security of Australia: Views From the
Strategist, Volume 7, June 2023. The Northern Australia
Strategic Policy Centre’s latest report, North of 26 degrees south and
the security of Australia: views from The Strategist, Volume 7, is a
series of articles published in The Strategist over the last six months.
It builds on previous volumes by identifying critical intersections of
national security, nation-building, resilience and Australia’s north.
This issue, like previous volumes, includes a wide range of articles
sourced from a diverse pool of expert contributors writing on topics as
varied as critical minerals, rare earth, equatorial space launch,
agriculture, advanced manufacturing, fuel and water security, and
defence force posturing. Importantly, it addresses the Defence Strategic
from a northern Australian perspective. It also features a foreword by
the Honourable Madeleine King MP, Minister for Northern Australia... |
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ASPI |
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The Big Squeeze. ASPI Defence Budget Brief 2023–2024, May 2023. This
is a very different year for the defence budget. We are in a time of
significant change and upheaval. Uncertainty is rife, but some
fundamentals can help in working through uncertainty, especially in the
world of defence policy, planning, capability programming and budget.
The order of those words is important. Defence budgets are not
arbitrary. Capability requirements must drive budgets. It doesn’t mean
that the budget is unlimited but it demands that governments consider
proposals for what is required and assess what can be afforded. If
budgets drive capability, it risks the true capability needs not being
put to government which results in failure to ask of government what
they are elected to do – make decisions based on all available
information... |
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ASPI |
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Impactful Mateship: Strengthening the US–Australia Defence Relationship
Through Enhanced Mutual Understanding, May 2023. AUKUS,
and the Australian Government’s release of the 2023 report of the
Defence Strategic Review (DSR), reinforce to Canberra and Washington DC
that there’s an urgent need to continue strengthening the US–Australia
alliance. Those efforts underpin allied cooperation within the
Indo-Pacific, which is an increasingly complex security environment.
This report highlights 9 opportunities for both US and Australian
defence decision-makers at a vital time in the relationship as it
develops in complexity and builds towards the ambitions of AUKUS over
the coming decade. A series of ‘quick wins’ for the US DoD are
recommended, including arranging more training for inbound DoD personnel
and conducting allied-centric training for relevant US-based action
officers and planners at US headquarters... |
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ASPI |
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Smooth Sailing? Australia, New Zealand and the United States Partnering
in–and With–the Pacific Islands, May 2023. Australia,
New Zealand and the United States should help create an ASEAN-style
forum for Pacific island nations to discuss security and manage
geopolitical challenges. The call for a dialogue, modelled on the ASEAN
regional forum, is one of several recommendations to improve security
partnerships and coordination in the region, reducing the risk that the
three countries trip over one another and lose sight of the Pacific’s
own priorities as they deepen their Pacific ties out of strategic
necessity amid China’s growing interest. While focussing on those three
countries, this report stresses that wider partnerships should be
considered, including with France, India, Japan, South Korea, the United
Kingdom and European Union... |
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ASPI |
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Southeast Asia Aid Map - Key Findings Report, June 2023.
Official development finance plays an important role in
financing Southeast Asia’s development, equivalent to around 10%
of total government development spending in the region. China is
Southeast Asia’s single largest development partner and leads
infrastructure financing. Yet, implementation problems have seen
the scale of China’s financing decline in recent years.
Traditional development partners collectively still dominate
development financing in Southeast Asia at 80% of the total. The
multilateral development banks lead the way, followed by Japan,
Europe, and South Korea. The United States and Australia are
mid-sized players. India and the Middle East have become notable
sources of non-traditional development finance, with the Islamic
Development Bank playing an important role. Climate development
finance is increasing, but Southeast Asia will need more support
if it is to transition towards resilient, low-carbon
development. Intraregional development cooperation is growing,
but only makes up a small part of development finance in
Southeast Asia. |
|
Lowy |
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Chips, Subsidies, Security, and Great Power Competition, May
2023.
Since 2008, government subsidies to industry have sharply
increased in the European Union, China, and the United States,
with particularly generous subsidies directed to the
semiconductor industry. Rising subsidies in the big world
economies and the entanglement of national security and
commercial motives pose difficult policy issues for countries
such as Australia, which cannot match the subsidies provided by
the great powers. US–China competition over advanced
semiconductors is an awkward instance of such entanglement of
national security and commerce, of subsidies and export denials.
Australia needs to find its own path between adhering to US
views on controlling the sale of strictly military products and
technologies, while resisting the inevitable pressure from the
United States to extend controls on new commercial products and
technologies. |
|
Lowy |
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Digital Threats to Democracy Dialogue Summary Report, June 2023.
The Lowy Institute convened the Digital Threats to Democracy (DTD)
Dialogue on 12 October 2022. This Dialogue was funded by the New
South Wales Department of Premier in Cabinet and was a day-long,
closed-door session that brought together a distinguished group
of diverse subject matter experts, government officials and
civil society stakeholders to examine intersecting digital
challenges to democracy. The aim of the Dialogue was to foster
connections across subject matter and policy areas in order to
spark new ideas and more coordinated approaches to meet these
challenges. To foster frank discussion, the session was
conducted under Chatham House rules. Therefore the comments and
recommendations made during the Dialogue and reflected in this
report are not attributed. Additionally, the summary of the
Dialogue and recommendations for future consideration should not
be taken as endorsed or agreed upon by all Dialogue participants
but rather are a reflection of the ideas and topics discussed... |
|
Lowy |
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Building the Australia-PNG Digital Ecosystem, June 2023.
The Covid-19 pandemic was a catalyst for increased digital
connectivity globally. In the Pacific, digital transformations
are gaining momentum. From a very low base, internet access and
mobile phone use is increasing at a steady pace, along with
government digital transformation projects spanning health,
education, and financial data. There is increasing commercial
activity online. Social media is playing a greater role in
elections and in keeping people informed of international
developments. Papua New Guinea (PNG) has a small, but rapidly
growing digital footprint, with new mobile phone, internet, and
social media users joining the digital realm every year. The PNG
government has a Digital Transformation Policy, but it is
stillstruggling to meet the digital infrastructure access needs
and expectations of an increasingly digitally savvy youth. The
country’s digital development is lagging behind that of other
Pacific countries... |
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Lowy |
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What the Compact Impact Fairness Act Means for Compact Host
Governments and Migrants, June 2023.
The Biden-Harris Administration’s 2024 Department of the
Interior (DOI) budget proposal supports passing the Compact
Impact Fairness Act (CIFA). CIFA would restore federal benefits
to migrants from three Pacific countries: Palau, the Federated
States of Micronesia (FSM), and the Republic of the Marshall
Islands (RMI). Support for CIFA is a welcome development for
Compacts of Free Association (COFA) migrants and the US states
and territories that host them. Yet, the budget proposal’s
omission of funding support for host governments and uncertainty
on implementation and prioritization for COFA migrants present
acute issues that may linger for years ahead... |
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EWC |
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China’s 5G Mobile Technology in Asia: US Security Concerns and
Regional Economic Priorities, May 2023.
Seeing Chinese fifth generation, or “5G,” mobile communications
technology as a potential security threat, the US government has
been discouraging other countries from using Chinese 5G
equipment despite its global popularity. Understanding this
issue requires an explanation of American security concerns
related to Chinese 5G technology and a review of the steps the
US government has taken to ban Chinese equipment from US
communications networks. The responses of several Asian
countries to American calls for a prohibition against Chinese 5G
equipment are varied. While close US allies generally follow the
American call to avoid incorporating Chinese communications
equipment, some less developed Asian nations have put economic
considerations above security concerns... |
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EWC |
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Washington Declaration: Beyond Korea, What it Means for
India? June 2023.
In April 2023, South Korea and the United States released
the Washington Declaration to reiterate and upgrade their
treaty alliance. In outlining a joint nuclear deterrence
strategy, the Declaration reaffirmed that South Korea would
not pursue independent nuclear capabilities, and instead
continue to rely on the alliance-based approach. This paper
considers the strategic impact of the Washington Declaration
beyond the U.S.-ROK nexus. Highlighting the importance of
the agreement on security and stability in the broader
Indo-Pacific region, the paper focuses on India’s stake in
the new development. In particular, the paper emphasizes
that despite its stated focus on the North Korean nuclear
threat, the Washington Declaration in fact considers the
Chinese and Russian threats in the region... |
|
ISDP |
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A Possible Strategy for the Defense of Taiwan, June 2023.
This issue brief examines the possibility of a People’s
Liberation Army’s (PLA) offensive to capture the island of
Taiwan from a military perspective. It analyzes the military
geography, the threat perception, and the capability of the
PLA to launch an expeditionary force across the Taiwan
Straits. It looks at the military capabilities of the ROC
Defense Forces and suggests a possible military strategy for
Taiwan to defend itself from a PLA attack. All this without
the direct intervention of the U.S. and her allies in
support of the ROC. It concludes that the planning, conduct,
and execution of an expeditionary attack, given the present
array of forces and indirect support from the U.S. and
allies, will not be without significant costs to China... |
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ISDP |
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Drivers of U.S.-China Strategic Competition: Understanding
the Chinese Perspective, June 2023.
The relationship between the United States and China is one
of the world’s most important and mutually beneficial
bilateral relationships. Nonetheless, it is also complex and
contentious, with both countries vying for geopolitical
influence and economic dominance. This brief examines
drivers of U.S.-China strategic competition from the
perspective of Beijing incorporating the prism of
Marxist-Leninist ideology, domestic politics in the U.S.,
China’s needed alignment with Russia, nationalism,
technological advancements such as AI, the role of regional
players such as ASEAN, Japan, and the E.U., and
Comprehensive National Power (CNP). Understanding these
analytical lens contributes to a deeper comprehension of
China’s security anxieties and worldview that may provide
insight to enhance engagement, resilience, and deterrence in
bilateral relations with China. |
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ISDP |
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Awaiting a Pivotal Partnership? The Case of India and South
Korea, June 2023.
The shift toward showcasing South Korea as a proactive
stakeholder in the global arena—beyond its foreign policy
limitations that have thus far centered on Northeast Asian
security—has unlocked the potential for wider regional
engagement and the growth of ‘like-minded’ pivotal states
with global ambitions such as Australia, India, France,
Germany, and Japan. In this great transition phase in the
global order, which is facing the ill-effects of a widening
ideological divide, India has emerged as one of the most
prominent states with a burgeoning global profile and hence
a natural partner for the ROK. The new shift has fueled
hopes of greater strategic autonomy in the ROK’s
decision-making and greater strategic clarity as a pivotal
state in the new geopolitical environment... |
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ISDP |
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Climate Security in the Indo-Pacific: Priorities and
Challenges, May 2023.
The climate vulnerabilities of the Indo-Pacific region have
grown immensely with grave implications for regional,
national, human, and ecological security. Climate action has
been prioritized by most countries, including by integrating
it into their national security strategies and reiterating
the need for cooperation among the countries. Yet there are
several impediments to effective collaborative climate
action such as the lack of climate finance and geopolitical
tensions. Against this backdrop, this issue brief locates
climate security within the Indo-Pacific strategies of
countries in the region (Australia, New Zealand, the U.S.,
India, Japan, and South Korea) as well as regional
organizations (ASEAN and the Pacific Islands Forum or PIF)
besides the European Union (EU), an extra-regional player,
and the Quad... |
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ISDP |
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The Dalai Lama’s Succession: Strategic Realities of the
Tibet Question, May 2023.
The 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso remains one of the most
recognized and beloved spiritual leaders of contemporary
times. By China, he is viewed in unflattering terms, ranging
from being termed a “splittist” to a “wolf in sheep’s
clothing”. The question over the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation
reflects the larger polemic ideological and political
debates about the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA)
versus the Communist Party of China (CPC), religious freedom
versus materialism, the sovereignty of Tibet versus China’s
occupation of it, and history itself. The CPC has put
strategies in place to manage the post-Dalai era: From
temple/monastry management rules and education policy
changes to restrictions on travel by Tibetans, the Party’s
strategies have laid the foundation for preparations to
mitigate uncertainties associated with the succession
process... |
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ISDP |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #9: Bruneian Youths on Social Media: Key
Trends and Challenges. Over the last decade, Brunei
Darussalam has been experiencing a huge increase in Internet
penetration and social media usage. As of January 2023,
these stand at 98.1 per cent and 94.4 per cent,
respectively. Instagram remains the platform with the
potential to reach citizens by advertisements (60 per cent),
followed by Facebook (57.6 per cent) and Twitter (21.9 per
cent) (Kemp 2023). While indicating society’s high reliance
on social media platforms for daily interactions and
engagements, these statistics also point to these platforms
being alternative sites for social engagements. With the
proliferation of affordable mobile technology, mobile and
fixed broadband availability, and high digital literacy,
social media such as Instagram, Twitter and TikTok have
become sites where young people share their everyday life
experiences and their socio-cultural and religious
practices, and create new discourses that effectively shape
the nation’s socio-cultural, religious and political
landscapes... |
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ISEAS |
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Latest APEC publications:
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APEC |
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Latest ADB Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:
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Resilience of Global Supply Chain: Facts and Implications,
June 2023
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Gender-Inclusive Development through Fintech: Studying
Gender-Based Digital Financial Inclusion in a Cross-Economy
Setting, June 2023
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Public Wash Programs, Long-Run Child Development, and
Intergenerational Mobility: New Evidence from Rural People’s
Republic of China, June 2023
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Investment in Innovation: Global Trends, Collaboration, and
the Environment, June 2023
-
Family Size and Domestic Violence in a High-Fertility
Society, June 2023
-
Leveraging School Principals to Address Learning Loss in
Indonesia through Group and Individual Targeting, June 2023
-
Does Biomass Fuel Use for Cooking Affect Early Childhood
Development? A Case Study of Kiribati, June 2023
-
Sustainable Financing Strategies for SMEs: Two Alternative
Models, June 2023
-
Maternal Education and Children’s Well-Being: Evidence from
Four Pacific Countries, June 2023
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Publications:
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Green Finance for Asian State-Owned Enterprises: An
Opportunity to Accelerate Green Transition, June 2023
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Gateway Framework: A Governance Approach for Infrastructure
Investment Sustainability, June 2023
-
Labor Migration in Asia: Changing Profiles and Processes,
June 2023
-
Central and West Asia Health Sector Approach 2025, June 2023
-
Addressing Menstrual Health in Urban, Water, and Sanitation
Interventions in the Pacific: Practitioner Guide, June 2023
-
Developing Innovative Transport Systems for New Cities: Best
Practices for Cities Embracing Emerging Mobility Trends and
Innovations, June 2023
-
A Closer Look at Causes of Youth Unemployment in the
People’s Republic of China, June 2023
-
Connecting Market Infrastructures in ASEAN+3: The Project
Tridecagon Proof of Concept, June 2023
-
Asia Bond Monitor, June 2023
-
Resettling Urban Populations: Learning from the Graduation
Approach in India, June 2023
-
Indonesia’s Technology Startups: Voices from the Ecosystems,
June 2023
-
Toward a Common and Comparable Framework for Measuring the
Digital Economy, June 2023
-
Critical Issues for Fiscal Reform in the People’s Republic
of China Part 2: Intergovernmental Fiscal Relations and Debt
Management, June 2023
-
Bangladesh Economic Corridor Development Highlights, June
2023
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ADB |
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June 2023 |
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The Ukraine Effect: Demise or Rebirth of the Global Order? May
2023.
Viewed from Western capitals, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
invasion of Ukraine is the most consequential event in world
affairs since the fall of the Soviet Union in December 1991. On
its outcome hang the survival of Ukraine as a sovereign state,
the future of European security, the credibility of the West,
and the preservation of the rules-based international order. But
for much of the world, the Ukraine conflict does not portend the
“epochal tectonic shift” described by Chancellor Scholz. It is
not an elemental struggle between good and evil, but an
unwelcome distraction that diverts attention from more pressing
priorities, such as climate change, food insecurity, debt
relief, and public health. Few non-Western leaders believe the
fate of international order hinges on who wins and loses the
war, even as they resent the instability this conflict has
caused... |
|
Lowy |
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Countering Chinese Economic Coercion: Enhanced Cooperation
Between Australia and Europe, May 2023.
China’s increasingly assertive, and at times belligerent,
geopolitical positioning over the past decade has led many to
conclude that challenging the economic, technological, and
military superiority of the United States is now a major
objective of the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi
Jinping’s leadership. On a number of issues, notably the South
China Sea and Taiwan, China has adopted a highly aggressive
approach to projecting its interests. And by entering into its
recent “no limits” partnership with Russia, China appears
increasingly confident in aligning itself politically against
the United States and the West... |
|
Lowy |
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Gaming Public Opinion, April 2023. The Chinese Communist
Party’s (CCP’s) embrace of large-scale online influence operations and
spreading of disinformation on Western social-media platforms has
escalated since the first major attribution from Silicon Valley
companies in 2019. While Chinese public diplomacy may have shifted to a
softer tone in 2023 after many years of wolf-warrior online rhetoric,
the Chinese Government continues to conduct global covert cyber-enabled
influence operations. Those operations are now more frequent,
increasingly sophisticated and increasingly effective in supporting the
CCP’s strategic goals. They focus on disrupting the domestic, foreign,
security and defence policies of foreign countries, and most of all they
target democracies... |
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ASPI |
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Korea Looks to Europe: Its Growing Military-Strategic
Cooperation with NATO, May 2023.
Korea is looking to Europe in the military-strategic
dimension. It wants to boost ties with NATO even as
strengthening relations with the AP4 (four Asia-Pacific
partners) forms an important aspect of the NATO 2030 agenda.
Korea has proactively joined this diplomatic effort, a
foreign policy initiative that is unprecedentedly bold for
Korea, which had been passively stuck in Northeast Asia.
This series of political actions already bring Korea
multiple consequences—both positive and negative—which will
only increase in number and magnitude. This issue brief
examines the Korean perspective and compulsion for
strengthening ties with NATO as the world experiences a
convergence of regions (Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic) and
security dimensions (military, economy, technology,
political regime) driven by the U.S., China, and other
significant powers. Against this backdrop, Korea needs NATO
much more than before given the four key factors—the U.S.
push, the need for capable partners, commercial opportunity,
and nuclear tripwire. And most likely vice versa. |
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ISDP |
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The Future of the ADMM-Plus in the Indo-Pacific, May 2023.
Since its establishment, the ADMM-Plus has evolved into a
valuable component of the regional security architecture. It
facilitates not only dialogue among the region’s defense
ministers and officials, but also practical initiatives
involving the regional militaries to address transnational
security concerns. It bears noting that the ADMM-Plus
emerged and progressed during a time when circumstances were
more conducive for multilateralism in the Indo-Pacific.
These circumstances are now changing, with expected
implications for regional multilateralism including the
ASEAN-led groupings. Looking ahead, whether the ADMM-Plus
would continue to retain its relevance in the regional
security architecture would arguably depend on the
development of three overlapping factors: (i) intra-ASEAN
dynamics and the ADMM’s leadership; (ii) major power rivalry
and the existence of competing options for multilateralism;
and (iii) the attitudes towards practical cooperation under
the ADMM-Plus framework. This brief reviews the evolution of
the ADMM-Plus as a regional mechanism. |
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ISDP |
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International Journal of Korean Studies,
Volume XXIV, Number 1, 2022
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IJKS |
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Satisfaction with Government's Handling of COVID-19 in
Singapore, April 2023.
This paper reviews Singaporeans’ satisfaction with the
government’s COVID-19 pandemic management. It also examines
perceptions of Singapore’s pandemic response in comparison with
other countries or regions, and the importance of government
satisfaction in predicting perceptions of Singapore’s pandemic
response. Around 71 per cent felt that the restrictions in
Singapore were adequate to deal with the pandemic, while 19 per
cent felt that there could have been more restrictions
implemented and 10 per cent felt that there could have been
fewer restrictions implemented... |
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IPS |
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Asian Development Review, Vol.
40, No. 1, March 2023 (Full
Report):
Studies using data from Thailand explore how income uncertainty
and borrowing constraints affect children’s education in rural
areas and look at how policies have influenced the pace of
economic development. Among other topics explored are the
factors that affect decisions by women in Bangladesh to engage
in home-based work, and the impacts of formal registration on
firms in Cambodia.
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:
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Building Supply Chain Resilience with Digitalization, May
2023
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Linguistic Diversity, School Language of Instruction Policy,
and Learning Outcomes across Asia and the Pacific, May 2023
-
Passive Solutions to Reduce the Need for Cooling in
Buildings, May 2023
-
When Policy Responses Make Things Worse: The Case of Export
Restrictions on Agricultural Products, May 2023
-
Fintech and Inclusive Growth: Evidence from 25 Asian
Developing Countries, May 2023
-
Compulsory Kindergarten Education and Early-Teenage Literacy
in the Philippines, May 2023
-
The Surprising Developments of Digital Supply Chains to
Raise Resilience in the Face of Disruptions, May 2023
-
Global Value Chains in the Pacific Island Countries:
Patterns and Structure, May 2023
-
Bespoke Supply Chain Resilience Facilitated by Dedicated and
Shared Resources, May 2023
-
History of Bank of Japan’s More Than Two Decades of
Unconventional Monetary Easing with Special Emphasis on the
Frameworks Pursued in the Last 10 Years, May 2023
-
Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Emerging Asia and Exposure to
External Shocks, May 2023
-
Trade Facilitation and Global Value Chains in a
Post-Pandemic World, May 2023
-
Facilitating International Adaptation Finance Flows from
Private Sources, May 2023
-
Gender Differences in Preferences for Non-Pecuniary Benefits
in the Labor Market: Experimental Evidence from an Online
Freelancing Platform, May 2023
-
Examining US Monetary Spillover to Indonesian Local Currency
Government Bonds in Volatile Periods, May 2023
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Publications:
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Disaster Recovery Planning: Explanatory Note and Case Study,
June 2023
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Green and Resilient Affordable Housing Sector Project, May
2023
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The Philippines’ Ecosystem for Technology Startups, May 2023
-
Narrowing the Development Gap: Follow-Up Monitor of the
ASEAN Framework for Equitable Economic Development, May 2023
-
Enhancing Tax Transparency in Asia and the Pacific, May 2023
-
Managing Fintech Risks: Policy and Regulatory Implications,
May 2023
-
Women’s Economic Empowerment in the Pacific Region: A
Comprehensive Analysis of Existing Research and Data, May
2023
-
Assessing the Maturity of National Road Safety Management
Systems, May 2023
-
Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through Skills
Development in High-Growth Industries in Central and West
Asia—Azerbaijan, May 2023
-
Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through Skills
Development in High-Growth Industries in Central and West
Asia—Uzbekistan, May 2023
-
Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through Skills
Development in High-Growth Industries in Central and West
Asia—Insights from Azerbaijan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan, May
2023
-
Harnessing the Fourth Industrial Revolution through Skills
Development in High-Growth Industries in Central and West
Asia—Pakistan, May 2023
-
Transforming Bangladesh’s Participation in Trade and Global
Value Chains, May 2023
-
Landscape Study on Southeast Asia’s Aviation Industry:
COVID-19 Impact and Post-Pandemic Strategy, May 2023
-
Civil Society Brief: India, May 2023
-
2 Decades of Poverty Reduction and Partnership: The Story of
the Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction 2000–2021
-
Reinvigorating Financing Approaches for Sustainable and
Resilient Infrastructure in ASEAN+3, May 2023
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ADB |
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Latest APEC publications:
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PSU Annual Report 2022, May 2023
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Study on Non-Tariff Measures Affecting Trade in Goods
Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions, May 2023
-
APEC Regional Trends Analysis, May 2023
-
Project Report of Demonstration and Promotion of Energy
Resilience Tool based on Solar-Powered Emergency Shelter
Solutions (SPESS) for Natural Disaster in APEC, May 2023
-
Clean Energy Start-Ups Forum: Advancing Market Reach and
Business Growth, May 2023
-
APEC Workshop on the Application of Electronic Veterinary
and Phytosanitary Certificate, May 2023
-
Study on Strategy to Promote the Utilization of the APEC
Trade Repository, May 2023
-
Policy Paths toward Low-emission Multimodal Transportation
in APEC, May 2023
-
Translating Services Domestic Regulation Initiatives Into
Practice: Benefits and Experiences Implementing Services
Domestic Regulation Disciplines, May 2023
-
The APEC Workshop on Best Practices Sharing of
Water-Conservation Standards and Evaluation on Their
Benefits, May 2023
-
Research Outcomes: Summary of Research Projects 2022
-
Achieving Harmonization of a Biometric ID Management
Framework across APEC Economies: Practical Guidebook and
Roadmap, May 2023
-
Updated Summary Report of APEC Economies’ Digital Policy
Measures to Combat COVID-19, May 2023
-
Recovering from COVID-19: Successful Practices among APEC
Economies on the Use of IP as a Collective Tool to Foster
and Promote Economic Development and Recovery of Vulnerable
Populations and MSMEs, May 2023
-
Lessons Learned on Resiliency and Uptake of Variable Energy
Resources from Islanded Grids that support APEC Clean Energy
Goals, May 2023
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Results of the Survey for the status of Aquaculture in APEC
Economies, May 2023
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APEC |
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May 2023 |
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2023 Being Chinese in Australia Poll.
More than 1.4 million people of Chinese heritage live in
Australia today. Their experiences are as diverse as their
views. Many were born in Australia, with lineages that span
generations of Australian history. Others have migrated more
recently from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia.
Chinese-Australian communities have flourished and contributed
to many aspects of Australian life. The Lowy Institute’s
Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project conducted its
third nationally representative poll of Chinese-Australians at
the end of 2022... |
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Lowy |
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Asia Power Snapshot: China and the United States in Southeast
Asia, April 2023.
In the last five years, China has increased the overall margin
of its influence compared to the United States in Southeast
Asia. In 2018, China led the United States 52–48 for influence
in the region. In 2022, this lead increased to 54–46. Applying a
new methodology to the data collected by the Lowy Institute for
the Asia Power Index between 2018 and 2022, this report yields
an in-depth analysis of the relative influence of the two
countries in Southeast Asia.[1] These patterns of influence form
part of the broad context in which Southeast Asian countries
make their strategic choices... |
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Lowy |
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Countering Chinese Economic Coercion: Enhanced Cooperation
Between Australia and Europe, April 2023.
China’s increasingly assertive, and at times belligerent,
geopolitical positioning over the past decade has led many to
conclude that challenging the economic, technological, and
military superiority of the United States is now a major
objective of the Chinese Communist Party under President Xi
Jinping’s leadership. [1] On a number of issues, notably the
South China Sea and Taiwan, China has adopted a highly
aggressive approach to projecting its interests. And by entering
into its recent “no limits” partnership with Russia, China
appears increasingly confident in aligning itself politically
against the United States and the West... |
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Lowy |
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The CCP’s Increasingly Sophisticated Cyber-Enabled Influence Operations,
April 2023. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s)
embrace of large-scale online influence operations and spreading of
disinformation on Western social-media platforms has escalated since the
first major attribution from Silicon Valley companies in 2019. While
Chinese public diplomacy may have shifted to a softer tone in 2023 after
many years of wolf-warrior online rhetoric, the Chinese Government
continues to conduct global covert cyber-enabled influence operations.
Those operations are now more frequent, increasingly sophisticated and
increasingly effective in supporting the CCP’s strategic goals. They
focus on disrupting the domestic, foreign, security and defence policies
of foreign countries, and most of all they target democracies... |
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ASPI |
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Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum Outcomes Report, April
2023. The Quad has prioritised supporting and guiding
investment in critical and emerging technology projects consistent with
its intent to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific. Governments cannot
do this alone. Success requires a concerted and coordinated effort
between governments, industry, private capital partners and civil
society. To explore opportunities and challenges to this success, the
Quad Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group convened the
inaugural Quad Technology Business and Investment Forum in Sydney,
Australia on 2 December 2022. The forum was supported by the Australian
Department of Home Affairs and delivered by the Australian Strategic
Policy Institute (ASPI)... |
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ASPI |
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War in Ukraine: Between Solution Finding and Global Bloc
Building, April 2023.
The war in Ukraine has had massive global repercussions and
thus prompted responses from vastly different actors on the
world stage. Russia’s invasion, although concentrated in one
geographic area, has impacted society at large in ways that
cannot be understated. The war has brought to light the
geopolitical affiliations and tensions around the world,
challenging previous power relationships and the westernized
rules-based international order. This paper examines the
role of different actors, including the European Union (EU),
the United Nations (UN), Indo-Pacific actors, and India, in
finding a solution to the conflict and the impact of their
actions on the global geopolitical landscape. The European
Union has been a key player in the conflict, with many
member-states supporting Ukraine through sanctions and other
measures... |
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ISDP |
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Kenya and the Indo-Pacific: The Rationale for an “Outlook”
and Why Kenya (and East Africa) Matters, April 2023.
This issue brief argues that Kenya should carefully consider
promulgating an Indo-Pacific outlook given the seismic
shifts in global distributions of power and the resulting
great power rivalry. The future of the region hangs in the
balance and East African states like Kenya are already
battling the headwinds associated with great power
competition. The political economy of external state actors’
recent involvement in Kenya and the region has added to the
charged geopolitical situation with China competing with
Japan, India, and others for political and economic
influence. In this context, this brief analyzes Kenya’s role
and place in the Indo-Pacific and outlines the risks and
rewards of a Kenyan Indo-Pacific approach. |
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ISDP |
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Slowly Taking Off: Nordic-Taiwan Relations, April 2023.
Taiwan has in recent years attracted increasing attention
all over the world. It has become the focal point of
conflict in the U.S.-China rivalry in the Indo-Pacific and
has also become a major issue in Sino-European relations. In
the Nordic countries, Taiwan has clearly begun to move away
from the periphery of people’s view of the world and towards
a position more in the foreground. One important reason for
this is that the threat to Taiwan from Mainland China seems
to have become more imminent. Many people in the Nordic
countries worry that the present leaders in Beijing might
resort to military force to bring Taiwan under their rule.
This threat evokes a strong sense of sympathy for the people
of Taiwan among people in the Nordic countries... |
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ISDP |
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Unpacking Beijing’s Narrative on Taiwan, April 2023.
Under the rule of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the pursuit of
China’s global expansion has raised concerns in democracies
across the globe that Beijing would undermine the regional
balance of power and challenge the international rules-based
order. Using a mix of inducement and coercion and displaying
increasing assertiveness, Xi’s government has continued to
project influence in its neighborhood and beyond. These
efforts have so far had mixed results. Nonetheless, Xi has
sought to weaken democratic governance and bolster China’s
authoritarian model by shaping economic rules, technology
standards and political institutions. Most importantly,
Beijing’s priority remains to shape the international
discourse to its advantage... |
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ISDP |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #8: The Orientation of Chinese
Newspapers in Indonesia as China Rises. Between late
December 2019 and early January 2020, several Chinese
fishing boats and coastguard vessels entered Indonesia’s
Natuna waters illegally, generating diplomatic tensions
between Jakarta and Beijing. Indonesian newspapers reported
on these incursions from an Indonesian perspective, as one
would expect, and on 2 January 2020, Kompas, the largest
newspaper in the country, published a report with the title
“Indonesia Rejects China’s Claims”. The following day,
Tempo, a leading news magazine and daily newspaper,
published a report with a similar headline “Indonesia
Clearly Rejects China’s Claim Over the Northern Natuna Sea”.
That same day, CNN Indonesia carried a provocative report
with the headline “China’s Vessels Enter Natunas, the
Indonesian National Army Get Ready to Fight”... |
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ISEAS |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #7: Young Hearts and Minds:
Understanding Malaysian Gen Z’s Political Perspectives and
Allegiances. History books are filled with examples of
angry youths, through fierce idealism and economic
desperation, forcing through a change in the political
landscape, either through protest, political participation
and co-option or a peaceful or violent revolution. The
self-immolation of a young and poor Mohamed Bouazizi, who
exemplified the economic hardship of Tunisia’s youth
population, sparked an anti-government uprising that soon
spread across the Arab World: Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Syria,
and Bahrain. Professor Mulderig of Boston University argued
that the Arab Spring “could not have occurred without the
ideological and numerical push of a huge mass of angry
youth”. The most common protest profile was a young Arab
aged 15 to 24, which represented approximately 20 per cent
of the population in the region, resulting from years of
high birth rates and prolonged lifespans... |
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ISEAS |
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The Belt and Road Initiative in Cambodia: Costs and
Benefits, Real and Perceived, March 2023. China is
Cambodia’s largest bilateral donor, lender, investor, and
trading partner. Economic relations have been strengthened
by Cambodia’s active participation in the Belt and Road
Initiative (BRI). Participating in the BRI has costs and
benefits. It has addressed infrastructure deficits, reducing
trade and transport costs, supporting productivity and
economic growth. This has improved living conditions and
reduced poverty. On the negative side, there are concerns
over environmental decay, land grabbing, and associated
losses in livelihoods. Benefits appear to outweigh costs in
Cambodia. Nevertheless, China is trying to improve the
environmental, social and financial sustainability of BRI
investments, following international criticisms... |
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ISEAS |
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High
Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model:
2023Q2, April 2023. In 2022, Hong Kong’s economy
experienced a 3.5% contraction, as opposed to the 6.4%
growth in 2021. Further lifting of social distancing
measures and the resumption of cross-border activities
between Mainland China and Hong Kong allowed Hong Kong’s
economy to rebound to 1.8% growth in 23Q1, after the
4.2% drop in 22Q4. As the number of tourists continues
to increase, the job market is expected to improve, with
the unemployment rate dropping from 3.3% in 23Q1 to 3.1%
in 23Q2. Due to foreign contractionary monetary policies
brought by persistent inflationary pressures in
developed economies, Hong Kong’s external demand is
dampened. Hong Kong’s imports and exports remain weak,
hindering the pace of economic recovery in the first
half of 2023. Hong Kong’s GDP is expected to grow by
2.8% in 23Q2... |
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HKU |
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Latest APEC publications:
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Summary Report – APEC Workshop on Promoting Renewable Energy
for Rural and Remote Area Development, April 2023
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Capacity Building in Biotherapeutics and Cell/Gene Therapies
in Latin America, April 2023
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Guidebook on Biosecurity and Good Aquaculture Policies and
Practices for small-scale farmers of tilapia (Oreochromis
sp.) and rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), April 2023
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Summary Report of APEC Workshop on Inclusive Business:
Charting the Path for Shared Prosperity through Inclusivity,
April 2023
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Facilitating Access to Open Government Data: Frameworks and
Practices, April 2023
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Effects of Policies Promoting the Work-Life Balance in the
Development of Women Who Lead Msmes, in the Context of the
Post-covid-19 Economic Recovery, April 2023
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APEC Chemical Dialogue: Risk Assessment Policy Tools, April
2023
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Advancing Gender Equality in APEC Customs Administrations
Final Report, April 2023
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Utilizing Digital Technology in the Field of Trade
Facilitation under the Current Covid-19 Pandemic and Beyond
(Phase II): Best-Practices Sharing Workshops, April 2023
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APEC Workshop to Identify Future Work on Non-Tariff Measures
(NTMs) Affecting Grain Trade, April 2023
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Project Report: Capacity Building on Marine Debris
Management and Monitoring from Source as River is the Major
Transport Pathway, April 2023
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Tourism Industry of APEC region in the COVID-19 Recovery
Period: Current Situation, Trends, and Challenges, April
2023
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APEC Forum on Entrepreneurship for the Future of Work:
Accelerating Regional Economic Recovery and Digital
Inclusion for Women and Youth in the Post-Pandemic Era,
April 2023
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What Comes after SME Digital Transformation? —Measuring
Effectiveness of Public Policy and Identifying Trends for
the Post-Digital Era APEC
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Economic Impact of Adopting Digital Trade Rules: Evidence
from APEC Member Economies, March 2023
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Achieving Harmonization of a Biometric ID Management
Framework across APEC Economies: Global Benchmarking Study,
March 2023
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APEC FinTech Scoping Study, March 2023
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APEC Workshop on Enhancing Implementation of Online Dispute
Resolution (ODR) through the APEC ODR Collaborative
Framework and Other Fora Including Court, March 2023
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Status Report: Cervical Cancer Elimination in the APEC
Region, March 2023
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APEC Green Finance Report – Unlocking the Urban Energy
Transition, March 2023
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APEC Life-long Learning and Skilling Project: Creating
Onramps for Unemployed and Displaced Adults to Access
Upskilling and Reskilling Opportunities, March 2023
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APEC Workshop on Sharing Best Practices, March 2023
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Promoting Gender Equality in the Telecommunications Industry
for the Inclusive Recovery, March 2023
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Empowering the Health Workforce through Digital Upskilling,
March 2023
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APEC |
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Asian Development Outlook 2023 (Full Report,
Highlights,
Special Topic)
The reopening of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) will boost
regional economic growth through supply chain linkages and
demand for goods and services. Growth in the PRC is expected to
rebound to 5.0% this year from 3.0% in 2022. Healthy domestic
demand in India will also support regional growth: India is
forecast to grow by 6.4% in 2023. Growth in the Caucasus and
Central Asia, the Pacific, and Southeast Asia will be lifted as
tourism recovers. Meanwhile, headline inflation is expected to
decelerate from 4.4% in 2022 to 4.2% this year and 3.3% in 2024.
However, higher debt and interest rates have magnified financial
stability risks, as evidenced by recent banking sector problems
in the United States and Europe. An escalation in the Russian
invasion of Ukraine could cause renewed surges in commodity
prices, stoking global inflation and inducing further monetary
tightening. Further, climate change and global fracturing remain
persistent challenges. To confront these challenges, policy
makers need to strengthen policies to ensure financial stability
and actively support multilateralism to deepen regional
cooperation. |
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ADB |
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Asia in the Global Transition to Net Zero: Thematic Report of
the Asian Development Outlook 2023. Developing
Asia faces a climate policy crossroads. The region is highly
vulnerable to climate change, even as it is an increasing
contributor to the global climate crisis. This report models
emission pathways based on commitments and pledges under the
Paris Agreement and compares them with more optimal routes to
net zero. It examines required transformations in the energy
sector and land use and assesses socioeconomic implications. The
report looks at policy costs, climate benefits, air quality
co-benefits, and labor market outcomes, and discusses policies
for an efficient and equitable transition. |
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ADB |
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Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Publications:
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ADB |
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April 2023 |
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Seeking to Undermine Democracy and Partnerships: How the CCP Is
Influencing the Pacific Islands Information Environment, March 2023. The
Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is conducting coordinated information
operations in Pacific island countries (PICs). Those operations are
designed to influence political elites, public discourse and political
sentiment regarding existing partnerships with Western democracies. Our
research shows how the CCP frequently seeks to capitalise on regional
events, announcements and engagements to push its own narratives, many
of which are aimed at undermining some of the region’s key partnerships.
This report examines three significant events and developments: the
establishment of AUKUS in 2021; the CCP’s recent efforts to sign a
region-wide security agreement; the 2022 Pacific Islands Forum held in
Fiji. This research, including these three case studies, shows how the
CCP uses tailored, reactive messaging in response to regional events and
analyses the effectiveness of that messaging in shifting public
discourse online... |
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ASPI |
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China, Climate Change and the Energy Transition, March 2023. This
report surveys China’s enormous energy transition to renewables. It
begins by sketching the energy challenges China faces and its
climate-change-related energy policies, in the context of the global
geopolitics of the energy transformation. Next the report focuses on
conventional energy sources (oil and natural gas), followed by
electricity, and energy technologies. Although the report is intended
primarily to survey developments to date, it concludes with some brief
observations about the considerable energy challenges China faces in the
years ahead. |
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ASPI |
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China, Climate and Conflict in the Indo-Pacific , March 2023. This
paper surveys the current reporting and analysis on climate and security
to explore the implications that climate change may have for China’s
ability to prosecute its security goals in the region’s three major
hotspots: the SCS, Taiwan and the India–China border conflict. Those
three hotspots all involve longstanding border and territorial disputes
between China and other nations and may draw in various levels of US
involvement should China continue to escalate tensions. |
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ASPI |
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Indo-Pacific Infrastructure Development Financing: An Agenda for
Australia and Europe, March 2023. Financing infrastructure in
developing economies has become an increasingly prominent international
policy priority. As part of this, the Australian government and European
Union (EU) are looking to improve the complementarity and coordination
of their infrastructure financing efforts, especially in the
strategically important Indo-Pacific region encompassing the developing
economies of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands. This
is part of a broader effort that includes several other like-minded
partners — most notably the United States, Japan, and the United
Kingdom. Governments in these countries are looking to step up their
infrastructure financing efforts in response to geostrategic concerns
about China’s rise as an infrastructure financier but also in
recognition of the significant infrastructure financing gap faced by
developing economies, including due to climate change and the need to
support economic recovery amid the overlapping international crises that
have characterised the early part of this decade, most notably the
Covid-19 pandemic... |
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Lowy |
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Valuing Longer, Healthier Lives: Assessing the Productivity of
Health Spending in South Korea, March 2023.
This research studies the link between medical spending and
health outcomes in South Korea, providing evidence on the
productivity of medical spending over recent decades. Current
measures do not account for changing quality nor give providers
any incentive for cost-effective substitution between forms of
treatment for a given condition. By leveraging existing
strengths of Korea’s National Health Insurance and health
outcome data, Korea can develop an accurate measure of medical
productivity and a more accurate measure of overall economic
productivity, while becoming a global pioneer of “health
satellite accounts” for overall populations... |
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EWC |
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What North Korea Has Been Learning From Russia’s Invasion of
Ukraine, March 2023.
A year ago, in February 2022, Russia invaded its neighbor,
Ukraine. Even though the war in Ukraine has implications for
security in Northeast Asia, many Asian nations consider it a
distant issue for Europeans to solve. However, this perspective
mirrors what Europe’s Asian counterparts, especially the
Koreans, have faced for decades. It serves as an apt analogy for
explaining the dangers of North Korea to Europe. North Korea is
also watching the war closely to discern what lessons or
leverage can be extracted from the unfolding conflict. This
short article reflects on two lessons and three opportunities
that the War in Ukraine presents to Kim Jong Un and concludes
with recommendations on what the Europeans could do in the near
future... |
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EWC |
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Two Peripheries: The Ukraine War's Effect on North Korea-Russia
Relations, March 2023. Although ties between the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia have been of
largely secondary importance for both countries since their
veritable rupture in the early- and mid-1990s, Moscow-Pyongyang
relations became more mutually beneficial in 2022. Whereas most
countries have outright condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
or taken up an ambiguous position, the DPRK has been vocal in
its support for Russia. From the DPRK perspective, the Kremlin’s
post-2022 diplomatic and economic estrangement from much of the
world has provided Pyongyang with an opening to leverage ties
with Russia to push for an easing of its own diplomatic and
economic isolation. Meanwhile, strengthening its DPRK ties
allows Russia to undermine US influence on its Asian
periphery... |
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EWC |
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United Kingdom Engagement with North Korea, March 2023.
The United Kingdom’s Korean War contribution to the United
Nations Command was second only to the United States, with
significant deployments of maritime and air assets in addition
to the provision of ground troops. Almost 60,000 British troops
saw action, with nearly 5,000 killed, wounded, missing in
action, or taken prisoner. Following the armistice, the United
Kingdom has continued to send representation to the United
Nations Command. The armistice agreement includes an obligation
on so-called “Sending States” to respond to renewed hostility.
Although there is no automatic UK commitment to send forces, the
armistice agreement remains a consideration in engagement with
North Korea... |
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EWC |
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North Korea-Germany Relations: An Ambassador's Perspective of
Diplomacy with Pyongyang, March 2023.
Germany established diplomatic relations with North Korea, also
known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), in
2001 at the request of the South Korean government, which hoped
that Germany and the European Union (EU) would play a more
active role in supporting the “Sunshine Policy.” Since then,
Germany, together with the other EU states, has sought to
moderate North Korea through a “Policy of Critical Engagement”
to convince it of the benefits of international cooperation,
respect for the rule of law, and improving the political and
economic situation of its people. In doing so, Germany could
build on the long relationship between North Korea and the
former East Germany... |
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EWC |
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From Coy to Cold Shoulder - The European Union and North Korea,
March 2023.
The European Union (EU)—then 15 member states prior to its 2004
enlargement to 25—formally established diplomatic relations with
Pyongyang in 2001 after a high-level visit to Pyongyang by Göran
Persson, Swedish Prime Minister and then President in office of
the European Council of Ministers. There, accompanied by EU
security affairs chief Javier Solana and EU foreign affairs
commissioner Chris Patten, he met with Kim Jong Il. Less than
five years before, Commission officials were under orders not to
even speak to officials from North Korea, officially the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK)... |
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EWC |
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From Close Allies to Distant Comrades: The Ups and Downs of the
Vietnam-North Korea Relationship, March 2023.
In 2019, more than five decades after North Korean President Kim
Il-sung’s last official trip to Vietnam in 1964, Kim’s grandson,
North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-un, visited the country at the
invitation of the Communist Party of Vietnam General Secretary
Nguyen Phu Trong. In a welcoming speech, Trong described the
relationship, “although the road is long, our hearts are close.”
Kim responded to Vietnamese hospitality, saying North Korea
would “staunchly preserve and forever honor the North
Korea-Vietnam friendship from generation to generation.”... |
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EWC |
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North Korea-Guyana Relations in the Burnham Era, March 2023.
During the reign of Forbes Burnham (1923-85), the South American
republic of Guyana (formerly British Guiana) became one of North
Korea’s greatest foreign policy success stories. Pyongyang not
only acquired a new trading partner in the Americas but also
gained a vocal advocate for its position on Korean unification
on the international stage. These close ties grew in large part
from Burnham’s admiration for North Korea, where he saw a highly
disciplined citizenry united around the Great Leader, willing to
work hard and sacrifice for the collective good. Guyana perhaps
did more than any other single actor to help North Korea become
viewed as an economic model for developing countries... |
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EWC |
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A Monumental Relationship: North Korea and Namibia, March 2023.
Visitors to Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, will quickly
learn a remarkable fact that is well-known among the local
population—much of the capital’s architectural landscape is
designed and constructed by North Korea. In recent years, North
Korean nationals have built the official residence of the
president of Namibia, the State House; the national cemetery for
the fallen heroes of the liberation struggle, the National
Heroes’ Acre; the national history museum, the Independence
Memorial Museum; the Ministry of Defense headquarters and other
buildings. The Namibian government thus uses North Korean
aesthetics for some of the most important aspects of its power:
the president, the history, and the army. This analysis explores
the relationship between Namibia and North Korea by providing
historical and political context to the aforementioned
buildings... |
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EWC |
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Engaging The Indo-Pacific: Some Pointers For Europe, March
2023.
The regional dynamics of the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR),
especially maritime security-related, are distinctly
different from other regions, especially Europe. There are
existential sub-regional dynamics that vary across the IPR,
which need to be viewed through an Indo-Pacific lens and not
a European or NATO lens. This issue brief argues that while
the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict may temporarily impact
European maritime security interactions in the Indo-Pacific,
there is a parallel need to enhance capacity and capability
and organizational interactions to shape the European
approach to the IPR and enhance its maritime footprint in
line with the common aim of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. |
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ISDP |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #6: Rhizome vs Regime: Southeast Asia’s
Digitally Mediated Youth Movements. In various Southeast
Asian countries, already weak democracies are being eroded
by processes of democratic regression and reconsolidation of
dynastic, autocratic and authoritarian regimes. At the same
time, these countries have seen the rise of new protest
movements, pioneered by a new generation of activist youth.
Youth fuelled spectacular mass protests in Indonesia
(2019–20), Thailand (2020–21) and Myanmar (2021–22),
mounting a daring resistance to the erosion of democracy. In
doing so, they experimented with new instruments and
repertoires of action, characterized by creative uses of
digital media and technologies... |
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ISEAS |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #5: Tides of Insecurity: Vietnam and the
Growing Challenge from Non-traditional Maritime Threats.
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s national liberation hero, once said,
“Land is the house, sea is the door. How can we protect the
house without guarding the door?”. Throughout history,
foreign powers cracked open “the door” to Vietnam through
sea-borne attacks multiple times. As such, defending
Vietnam’s maritime space is of utmost importance, especially
since Vietnam’s land borders have been secured through the
conclusion of border treaties with Laos (1977), Cambodia
(1985) and China (1999). Vietnam prioritizes the maritime
frontier also for reasons beyond historical experience. It
is a maritime nation with a coastline of 3,260 km and an
exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of more than 1 million
km²—three times the size of its land area. Many of Vietnam’s
3,000 islands and archipelagos are of economic, security and
strategic significance. Half of the Vietnamese population
resides in 28 coastal provinces, and 80 per cent live within
160 km of the coastline... |
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ISEAS |
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Latest APEC publications:
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APEC |
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Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Publications:
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ASEAN and Global Value Chains: Locking in Resilience and
Sustainability, March 2023
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Asia Bond Monitor, March 2023
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Economic Applicability of the Automatic Identification
System Data: Use Cases and the Way Forward, March 2023
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Impact of High Trade Costs and Uncertain Time to Trade on
Exports from Five Central Asian Countries, March 2023
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Geographical Proximity and Trade Impacts in the Central Asia
Regional Economic Cooperation Program Region, March 2023
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Finding Balance 2023: Benchmarking Performance and Building
Climate Resilience in Pacific State-Owned Enterprises, March
2023
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Accelerating Low-Carbon Pathways through E-Mobility:
Perspectives from Developing Economies, March 2023
-
Mobilizing Revenue: Emerging Approaches to Managing and
Collecting Tax Debt to Improve Tax Payment Compliance, March
2023
-
Reforms to Boost Long-Term Growth in the People’s Republic
of China (Observations and Suggestions, March 2023
-
Georgia’s Emerging Ecosystem for Technology Startups, March
2023
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A World in Crisis, a World in Progress: Growing Better
Together, Published 2023
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ADB |
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March, 2023 |
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2023 Asia Power Index - Key Findings Report. The annual Asia
Power Index — launched by the Lowy Institute in 2018 — measures
resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia.
The project maps out the existing distribution of power as it stands
today, and tracks shifts in the balance of power over time. The Index
ranks 26 countries and territories in terms of their capacity to shape
their external environment — its scope reaching as far west as Pakistan,
as far north as Russia, and as far into the Pacific as Australia, New
Zealand and the United States. The 2023 edition — which covers five
years of data up to 2022 — is the most comprehensive assessment of the
changing distribution of power in Asia to date... |
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Lowy |
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Abrogating the Visiting Forces Agreement: Its Effects on
Philippines’ Security and Stability in Southeast Asia, February
2023.
During much of 2022, the defense and security alliance between
the United States of America and the Philippines, anchored on
and reinforced by the 1951 Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT, teetered
on the brink of collapse. Former Philippine President Rodrigo
Duterte brought relations to the brink through attempts to
scuttle the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). This move would
only embolden Chinese challenges to Manila’s territorial
integrity and its aspirations to dominate Southeast Asia and the
South China Sea. While the Duterte administration recited
parochial reasons to terminate the VFA, pundits from the
security and diplomatic sectors viewed Duterte’s attempts as a
pretext to steer the Philippines towards China under his own
brand and definition of an independent foreign policy... |
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EWC |
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ASPI’s Critical Technology Tracker - The Global Race for Future Power
2023. Western democracies are losing the global
technological competition, including the race for scientific and
research breakthroughs, and the ability to retain global talent—crucial
ingredients that underpin the development and control of the world’s
most important technologies, including those that don’t yet exist. Our
research reveals that China has built the foundations to position itself
as the world’s leading science and technology superpower, by
establishing a sometimes stunning lead in high-impact research across
the majority of critical and emerging technology domains. China’s global
lead extends to 37 out of 44 technologies that ASPI is now tracking,
covering a range of crucial technology fields spanning defence, space,
robotics, energy, the environment, biotechnology, artificial
intelligence (AI), advanced materials and key quantum technology
areas... |
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ASPI |
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Countering China’s Coercive Diplomacy, February 2023. The
People’s Republic of China (PRC) is increasingly using a range of
economic and non-economic tools to punish, influence and deter foreign
governments in its foreign relations. Coercive actions have become a key
part of the PRC’s toolkit as it takes a more assertive position in
international disputes and seeks to reshape the global order in its
favour. This research finds that the PRC’s use of coercive tactics is
now sitting at levels well above those seen a decade ago, or even five
years ago. The year 2020 marked a peak, and the use of trade
restrictions and state-issued threats have become favoured methods. The
tactics have been used in disputes over governments’ decisions on human
rights, national security and diplomatic relations... |
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ASPI |
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Be’er Sheva Dialogue 2022 - Proceedings and Outcomes, February 2023. The
Eighth annual Be’er Sheva Dialogue was held in Canberra on 21 November
2022. The Dialogue is named in honour of the Battle of Beersheba (1917),
with the 2022 Dialogue marking the 105th anniversary of the battle.
Since its inception in 2015, the Dialogue has brought together defence
officials, senior parliamentarians and analysts from both Australia and
Israel to discuss areas of shared strategic interests and challenges, as
well as the potential for collaboration... |
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ASPI |
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ASEAN’s Evolving Alignment Strategy in the South China Sea:
Between Middle and Major Power Dynamics, February 2023.
ASEAN is a region of vital strategic importance where the
United States’ Indo-Pacific strategy and China’s Belt and
Road Initiative (BRI) collide. To avert geopolitical
uncertainty and to avoid being pulled into full-fledged
conflicts between major powers, the ASEAN states have
employed a ‘hedging strategy’ by combining elements of
bandwagoning and balancing. However, such a
middle-positioning or ambiguous strategy is now challenged
as geopolitical tension rises in the South China Sea. The
future order of this region will depend on strategic choices
and the relative power positions of the ASEAN nations and
their agreed modes of conflict and cooperation. This Focus
Asia paper focuses on capturing the evolving hedging
strategy of the ASEAN states in the South China Sea and its
regional implications... |
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ISDP |
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Quad in the Indo-Pacific: Role of Informality in Countering
China, February 2023.
The Quad, a highly informal intergovernmental organization
in the Indo-Pacific, is a high-profile security grouping
composed of Australia, India, Japan, and the US. For some
observers, the Quad’s informality and lack of clear security
commitments means it is little more than a “talk shop.” For
others, it an emergent military alliance. This issue brief
shows that the Quad’s overriding purpose is a bit of both
via its core mission to meet the long-term security
challenges posed by China to each Quad member and the
quartet collectively. But rather than turning to an
interlocking security alliance, the quartet looks for
collective security and the protection of the jealously
guarded sovereignty via the Quad’s informality. Indeed,
informality is a geopolitical necessity for the Quad as it
provides a workable format for four diverse members to
coordinate security activities whilst maintaining equivocal
positions vis-à-vis China. In the process, Australia, India,
Japan, and the US have progressively strengthened bilateral,
trilateral, and quadrilateral defense and security ties... |
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ISDP |
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How Strategic Tech Cooperation Can Reinvigorate Relations
Between the EU and India, January 2023.
US-China strategic competition is the predominant challenge
of this era and although it has fueled unprecedented
tensions, it has also compelled the other regional and
global major and middle powers to take on a larger role in
shaping global governance architecture. Democratic actors
like India, Japan, Australia, France, Germany, the
Netherlands, the European Union (EU) and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have become central partners
in minimizing the repercussions of the US-China bipolar
contest and spearheading an inclusive order in the
Indo-Pacific. Notably, the fast-evolving political landscape
not only mirrors the accelerating changes in new
technologies but is also driven by this profound digital
shift. For example, despite its economic and developmental
gains, digitalization has allowed rogue state and non-state
actors to exploit digital vulnerabilities inherent in a
hyper-connected system... |
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ISDP |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #4: GVC Reconfiguration: Risks and
Opportunities for ASEAN Members. The COVID-19 pandemic,
growing geopolitical tensions and trade disputes between the
US and China, and the Russia-Ukraine war have further
increased the risk of global value chain (GVC) disruptions
and forced firms to strengthen resilience in their supply
chains and operations. The GVC is the sequence of all
functional activities required in the process of value
creation involving more than one country (UNCTAD 2013).
These activities range from preproduction (e.g., research
and development, product design, and branding) to production
and postproduction (e.g., marketing, distribution, and
retailing). According to the World Bank (2020), about half
of global trade involves GVCs, with services, raw materials,
parts, and components crossing borders multiple times.
However, GVCs are facing risks... |
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ISEAS |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #3: The Indonesia National Survey
Project 2022: Engaging with Developments in the Political,
Economic and Social Spheres. It has been more than two
decades since the beginning of the Reformasi (Reform
Movement) era marked by the fall of President Suharto.
Experts are generally divided into two camps that hold
sharply different views about Indonesia’s achievements
during that period. The first scholarly camp holds a
gloomier view, observing that the old corrupt political
oligarchic forces have persisted in sabotaging the country’s
democratic structural reforms, taking the country back to
the practices of the New Order era when corruption,
collusion and nepotism were the political and business order
of the day. According to this group, there is hardly any
significant difference between the New Order and Reform
eras. Meanwhile, the other scholarly camp provides a rosier
picture of the democratization process in Indonesia.
Government officials have also repeatedly made claims that
Indonesia has indeed taken big strides forward politically
and economically since the end of the New Order... |
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ISEAS |
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Latest APEC publications:
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APEC |
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Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Publications:
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Metals and Plastic Recycling in Maldives, February 2023
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Evidence-Based Public–Private Collaboration in the Health
Sector: The Potential for Collaborative Governance to
Contribute to Economic Recovery from COVID-19 in Asia,
February 2023
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Gender Bonds: From Incidental to Center Stage, February 2023
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Scaling Up Local Adaptation Measures through
Climate-Responsive Decentralization Processes, February 2023
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Observations and Suggestions-Youth Employment and the
Pandemic Recovery in the People’s Republic of China,
February 2023
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Fed Tightening and Capital Flow Reversals in Emerging
Markets: What Do We Know? February 2023
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Appraising New Damage Assessment Techniques in
Disaster-Prone Fiji, February 2023
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How ADB is Strengthening Community Building through Online
Communities, February 2023
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Rethinking Infrastructure Financing for Southeast Asia in
the Post-Pandemic Era, February 2023
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Asian Economic Integration Report 2023: Trade, Investments,
and Climate Change in Asia and the Pacific, February 2023
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Uniquely Urban: Case Studies in Innovative Urban
Development, February 2023
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Imperatives for Improvement of Food Safety in Fruit and
Vegetable Value Chains in Viet Nam, February 2023
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Achieving a Sustainable and Efficient Energy Transition in
Indonesia: A Power Sector Restructuring Road Map, February
2023
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ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Brief No. 1—The Professional Bond
Market: A Practical Introduction, January 2023
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ASEAN+3 Bond Market Forum Brief No. 2—Professional Investor
Concepts and Categories, January 2023
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ADB |
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February, 2023 |
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Economic Sanctions During Humanitarian Emergencies: The Case of
North Korea, January 2023.
North Korea is experiencing yet another cycle of humanitarian
distress. While sanctions are not the primary cause, they are a
contributing factor. This essay examines the channels through
which sanctions affect the North Korean economy and reaches four
conclusions: First, sanctions have contributed to a
deterioration of economic performance. Second, the UNSC’s 1718
Sanctions Committee should consider a thorough review to
identify goods that would warrant blanket humanitarian financial
sanctions have raised the risk premium on all financial
transactions with North Korea; the sanctioning authorities need
to do a better job of clarifying transactions permissible under
humanitarian exemptions. Finally, while the global community
should reassess its policies, the government of North Korea
bears responsibility as well. The benefits of sanctions relief
will be diminished if North Korea refuses to engage
constructively with the international community on a broader
range of issues running from basic humanitarian relief to
economic reform... |
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EWC |
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Asia's
Push for Monetary Alternatives, December 2022.
For the last quarter century, Asia has been seeking greater
autonomy within the existing international monetary system.
While the region has had the resources to go its own way,
intraregional rivalries and a reluctance to damage ties to the
US and the International Monetary Fund have put a damper on
regional initiatives. Now the ascendency of China offers a path
toward greater regional autonomy in monetary affairs. Asia, led
by China, has been playing a two-track strategy pushing for
greater influence within the existing global institutions, while
developing its own parallel institutions such as the Chiang Mai
Initiative Multilateralization, the Belt and Road Initiative,
and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. Use of the Chinese
renminbi will likely grow as a trade invoicing currency but
expanded use of the renminbi as a reserve currency is more
uncertain... |
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EWC |
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Understanding the Rohingya Crisis, January 2023.
In consideration of their stateless status in Myanmar, prolonged
refugeehood in Bangladesh, and their ongoing vulnerable position
of the Rohingya, they are known as the world’s most persecuted
minority. Despite living in Arakan/Rakhine state for centuries,
Myanmar's Citizenship Law in 1982 rendered the Rohingya
stateless as it conferred citizenship to 135 ethnic groups
excluding the Rohingya. In 1978, Burmese security forces started
Operation Nagamin, which produced the first Rohingya influx to
Bangladesh (about 250,000). The second influx occurred in
1991-92 (about 200,000). Then, some 360,000 Rohingyas were
repatriated to Bangladesh under an agreement brokered by the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)... |
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EWC |
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Strengthening Japan-ROK Relations: The Prime Time to Rebuild
Relations Through Young Parliamentary Diplomacy, November 2022.
South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol began his remarkable
administration by emphasizing the values of freedom and
democracy, and the triangular Japan-U.S.-ROK relationship.
Contrasting the previous administration, which prioritized
reconciliation with North Korea, President Yoon embraced
positive messages on restoring Japan-ROK relations even before
taking office. On August 15, the National Liberation Day of
Korea, President Yoon described Japan as a “neighbor that joins
forces against the challenges that threaten freedom.” ... |
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EWC |
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The AI Race: Collaboration to Counter Chinese Aggression,
January 2023.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to replace
humans, as it can help overcome language barriers, improve
governance, deliver better healthcare, and create art.
However, AI also has the potential to be highly disruptive,
causing ripples that can alter the existing democratic world
order. Using AI for facial recognition and leading
crackdowns on dissenting citizens is just one of its many
negative uses. In the international arena, particularly
during conflicts, AI can collect voice samples from
militarily sensitive regions, and the data collected could
be used for automated extra-territorial mass surveillance.
While the U.S. and China are the leaders in AI so far, other
states have also started realizing its importance. In this
context, it is essential to underline India’s AI experience.
Democracies need to collaborate to ensure the current
democratic world order does not get thwarted by revisionist
powers using the malicious potency of AI... |
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ISDP |
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China’s Pandemic Shift: The End of Dynamic zero-COVID,
January 2023.
Beginning with the anti-lockdown protests triggered by a
fire in Xinjiang on November 24, this issue brief examines
Beijing’s abrupt abandonment of zero-COVID mere days later
and its underlying motivations. The government’s new
pandemic discourse vis-á-vis the public downplays the
severity of the virus and stresses individual over
collective responsibility in now living alongside it. This
messaging seeks to instill trust in the new approach,
prepare the public for temporary difficulties, dilute
responsibility, and reduce impending strain on public health
resources while also characterizing the new approach as a
calculated next step in fighting the pandemic. Yet, China’s
new pandemic strategy is not without key challenges and
significant risks in the year ahead—both for public health
and Xi Jinping’s already imperiled pandemic leadership
legacy... |
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ISDP |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #2: Can Malaysia Eliminate Forced Labour
by 2030? The spotlight has fallen on the persistent
problem of forced labour in Malaysia lately, due to both
infringements and policy responses. Forced labour
encompasses harsh exploitation and abuse, but also less
overt forms of coercion such as retention of passports,
squalid living quarters and debt bondage, some of which have
seemingly become endemic to the country. The intertwined
phenomena of labour outsourcing and undocumented status have
exacerbated worker vulnerability to forced labour
conditions. Recent high-profile cases, especially involving
import bans on rubber glove manufacturers and palm oil
producers, and the country’s downgrade in the US Department
of State’s Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report from three
years in a row on Tier 2 Watch List to Tier 3 in 2021 and
2022 (US Department of 2021a; US Department of State
2022)... |
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ISEAS |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2023 #1: The EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment
Mechanism (CBAM): Implications for ASEAN-EU Relations.
According to international frameworks, climate solutions
need to be scaled up in critical international trade issues
to fulfil the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals’
(UNSDG) goal 13, the 2015 Paris Agreement, and the decisions
taken in the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference
(COP 26) and the subsequent conference in 2022 (COP 27). The
European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) are the two most successful regional blocs,
and trade relations between the two are currently on an
upswing trajectory. However, the EU’s current plan to impose
a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) as part of the
EU Green Deal will likely cause disputes with global
partners, including ASEAN. This paper analyses the EU CBAM
and its technical implementation and, most importantly, the
possible implications of the EU CBAM on ASEAN-EU strategic
relations... |
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ISEAS |
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Trends in
Southeast Asia 2022 #19: The Indonesian Military Enjoys
Strong Public Trust and Support: Reasons and Implications.
Scholars have long argued for the importance of public trust
in institutions in the context of democratic consolidation.
Gamson (1968, p. 42) argues that trust functions as the
“creator of collective power” which allows state
institutions to make decisions without using a violent
approach or having to continuously get the specific approval
of citizens for every decision. In the short term, public
trust in governments could be the outcome of a long
socialization process. In the longer term, however, as
Mishler and Rose (1997) argue, trust must be earned; it is a
public evaluation of institutions based on performance
(Hirschman 1970). The military is no exception to this rule.
In order for it to carry out its duties effectively, the
military must gain high levels of public trust and
confidence. Opinion polls have consistently shown that the
Indonesian National Army (Tentara Nasional Indonesia, TNI)
is the most trusted public or state institution in
Indonesia. This situation is not unique to Indonesia... |
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ISEAS |
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NUS Research on Ageing-Related Policies (2022), December 2022.
This is a case study of a fast-ageing Asian society – Singapore
– that examines the determinants of public attitudes towards
social support and the attending fiscal policies that will
enable its people to make this demographic transition well. In a
decade, the old-age support ratio that indicates how many
working age people there will be to support one person 65 years
and older among Singapore citizens fell from 5.9 in 2012 to 3.3
this year, 2022. According to projections in the document
Population in Brief 2022 that was compiled by five government
agencies, this old-age support ratio for citizens is projected
to fall further — to an uncomfortable 2.4 by the year 2030. A
fast-ageing population is not a new policy challenge to the
Singapore government. However, the felt impact of longevity is
now emerging with force among the larger and current cohorts of
those entering their 60s in the areas of work, care, recreation,
health and finances... |
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IPS |
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Online Youth Civic Engagement in Singapore, December 2022.
Online civic engagement has gained a new momentum during the
COVID-19 pandemic. With the limitations imposed on physical
outreach events, many youths strategically tapped the
affordances of popular social media platforms like Instagram,
Twitter and TikTok to discuss civic issues and mobilise
like-minded youths to support their causes. In recent years,
there has been increasing research on understanding the nature
of youth advocacy and activism in the online space in Singapore.
However, they have primarily examined specific online movements
and the use of older social media platforms like Facebook.
Moreover, they have mostly focused on the perspectives and
experiences of youth content creators supporting these movements
but not that of general social media users who encountered such
content either incidentally or intentionally... |
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IPS |
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Current Realities, Social Protection And Future Needs of
Platform Food Delivery Workers in Singapore, November 2022.
The Institute of Policy Studies published a detailed report in
February 2022 featuring results from a survey of private hire
car drivers and ethnographic research. This paper focuses
exclusively on food delivery riders and reflects the
continuation of the institute’s efforts to shed light on
platform work and workers. This report is based primarily on a
survey of 1002 food delivery platform riders. This is
complemented by data generated from an ongoing ethnographic work
and with it, 48 in-depth interviews with riders. While
respondents were generally satisfied with their work as food
delivery riders, the study shows many areas where improvements
in social protection are needed to safeguard workers welfare
especially in the longer-term horizon... |
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IPS |
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MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters, December 2022. The
Dec 2022 Survey was sent out on 23 Nov 2022 to a total of 25
economists and analysts who closely monitor the Singapore
economy. This report reflects the views received from 21
respondents (a response rate of 84.0%) and does not represent
MAS’ views or forecasts. The Singapore economy expanded
by 4.1% year-on year in Q3 2022. This exceeded the respondents’
median forecast of 3.9% in the previous survey. In the current
survey, respondents expect the economy to grow by 2.1% in Q4
2022. The respondents expect GDP to expand by 3.6% in 2022, up
slightly from 3.5% in the previous survey... |
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MAS |
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Project Orchid Whitepaper, October 2022. Project Orchid is a
multi-year, multi-phase exploratory project examining the
various design and technical aspects pertinent to a retail CBDC
system for Singapore, from its functionalities to its
interaction with existing payment infrastructures. Though MAS
has assessed that there is no urgent need for a retail CBDC in
Singapore at this point in time, MAS seeks to facilitate ongoing
learning and advance the financial infrastructure in Singapore... |
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MAS |
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National Strategy for Countering the Financing of Terrorism
(CFT), October 2022. Taking into account the findings of the
Terrorism Financing National Risk Assessment (TF NRA) 2020,
Singapore formulated our National Strategy for Countering the
Financing of Terrorism (CFT). The National CFT Strategy forms
the blueprint that outlines Singapore’s national approach to
address our TF risks and serves as the roadmap to guide the
development of future action plans to effectively prevent,
detect, investigate, and enforce against TF. It also enhances
the coordination of actions across law enforcement agencies,
policy makers, regulators and supervisors, and as appropriate,
the private sector, in Singapore... |
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MAS |
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Latest ADB Publications:
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest APEC publications:
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APEC |
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Journal of Global Buddhism,
Volume
23, No. 1 & 2, 2022 and
Volume 22, No 1 & 2,
2021. |
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JGB |
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January, 2023 |
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High
Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model:
2023Q1, January 2023. Hong Kong’s economy underwent
a contraction of 3.1% in 2022, which is in stark
contrast to the 6.3% robust growth in 2021. Underpinned
by loosening of social distancing measures and lifting
of travel restrictions, Hong Kong’s real GDP is
estimated to have a lesser drop of 2.6% in 22Q4,
compared to the 4.5% drop in 22Q3. The job market is
expected to improve further due to the reopening of the
Mainland China border with the unemployment rate
dropping from 3.7% in 22Q4 to 3.5 in 23Q1. Interest
rates hikes brought by monetary contraction to fight
surging inflation in various developed economies
constrained Hong Kong’s economic growth in the first
half of 2023. Hong Kong’s GDP is expected to grow by
1.0% in 23Q1. The economic outlook in 2023 remains
optimistic and a stable economic recovery is expected.
Overall, Hong Kong’s real GDP is forecast to grow by
2.5% for the year of 2023... |
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HKU |
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Mixed Report Card: China’s Influence at the United Nations, December
2022. China is of growing importance to the United Nations.
Beijing aims to exert influence at the world body to legitimise and
disseminate its foreign policy values and interests. This report
contextualises China’s growing presence at the United Nations by
examining publicly available data on four metrics that gauge Beijing’s
success in steering the global governance agenda. Those metrics are:
funding for UN departments, programs, and initiatives; staffing of
executive-level personnel positions; voting in the UN General Assembly
and UN Security Council; and the use of PRC-specific discourse and
language in UN-generated documentation... |
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Lowy |
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Sharper Choices: How Australia Can Make Better National Security
Decisions, December 2022.
As Australia’s national security environment has grown more complex and
competitive, the country’s governments have gradually articulated their
strategic response, primarily in the 2016 Defence White Paper, the 2017
Foreign Policy White Paper, and the 2020 Defence Strategic Update. In
these documents, and in major speeches, Australian governments have
adopted four broad strategic concepts: the embattled rules-based order,
the return of great power competition, the expansion of grey zone
competition, and the increased likelihood of major power war. There is
no master theory that can entirely explain Australia’s situation and
guide its decision-makers. A national security strategy is necessary,
but its utility will be limited by the increasingly unpredictable course
of geopolitics... |
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Lowy |
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State-Sponsored Economic Cyber-Espionage for Commercial Purposes:
Tackling an Invisible but Persistent Risk to Prosperity, December 2022. As
part of a multi-year capacity building project supporting governments in
the Indo-Pacific with defending their economic against the risk of
cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, ASPI analysed public
records to determine the effects, the actual scale, severity and spread
of current incidents of cyberespionage affecting and targeting
commercial entities. In 2015, the leaders agreed that ‘no country should
conduct or support ICT-enabled theft of intellectual property, including
trade secrets or other confidential business information, with the
intent of providing competitive advantages to companies or commercial
sectors.’... |
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ASPI |
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‘Impactful Projection’: Long-Range Strike Options for Australia,
December 2022. The Australian Government has stated that
the ADF requires greater long-range strike capability. This was first
stated by the previous government in its 2020 Defence Strategic Update (DSU),
which emphasised the need for ‘self-reliant deterrent effects’. The
present government has endorsed that assessment: Deputy Prime Minister
and Defence Minister Richard Marles has stated that ‘the ADF must
augment its self-reliance to deploy and deliver combat power through
impactful materiel and enhanced strike capability—including over longer
distances.’ He’s coined the term ‘impactful projection’ to describe the
intended effect of this capability, which is to place ‘a very large
question mark in the adversary’s mind.’... |
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ASPI |
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The Indian Farmer Makes Her Voice Heard, December 2022.
In August 2020, thousands of farmers, mostly from Punjab,
Haryana, and western Uttar Pradesh, gathered on the outskirts of
India’s national capital, New Delhi, to protest the passage of
three controversial “farm laws” perceived by these farmers as
threats to their livelihoods and well-being. Though the farm
laws would affect only a small percentage of India’s farmers,
over the next 16 months the protests attracted participation
from across the country, cutting across class, caste, gender,
and religious identities. While the proximate driver seemed to
be the farmers’ fear of losing legal protections against a
collapse in the market price of their produce, broader economic,
ecological, and social factors helped trigger the movement. The
protestors employed several strategies that made their movement
successful enough in pushing back against a hugely popular
government to bring about a repeal of the laws the farmers
objected to. |
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EWC |
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Financial Stability Review, November 2022. Risks to the
global financial stability outlook have intensified, as
economies contend with tighter financial conditions, higher
inflation and slowing growth. Heightened geopolitical tensions
and the attendant impact on supply chain disruptions, as well as
economic and financial fragmentation, add further downside risks
to the conjuncture.
The most immediate risk is a potential dysfunction in core
international funding markets and cascading liquidity strains on
non-bank financial institutions that could quickly spill over to
banks and corporates. Tighter financial conditions and highly
volatile markets could give rise to liquidity imbalances that
central banks and fiscal authorities need to adequately address
to avoid precipitating a disorderly liquidation of assets... |
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MAS |
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Trends in Southeast Asia 2022 #18: "STANNING” NAJIB: Fanning
a Personality Cult in Malaysian Politics.
On 24 August 2022, the day after Malaysia’s former Prime
Minister Najib Abdul Razak failed in his final appeal to the
Federal Court to overturn his graft conviction, a group of
200 Najib loyalists from Pertubuhan Jalinan Perpaduan Negara
Malaysia launched a petition calling for a royal pardon for
Najib (Leong 2022). That petition was also uploaded to the
website change.org. Within a brief span of time, a
counter-petition by Bersih was launched with a list of
reasons as to why such an extrajudicial action should not be
countenanced by the ruling King (Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih
dan Adil Bersih 2022). As of this writing, the anti-pardon
petition garnered 126,363 supporters (Gabungan Pilihanraya
Bersih dan Adil Bersih 2022), significantly outnumbering the
pro-Najib petition which garnered 11,259 supporters (Ibrahim
Ismail 2022). Are these numbers representative of... |
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ISEAS |
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Real Exchange Rate and Firm Productivity: The Case of
Vietnamese Manufacturing, December 2022.
This study investigates the relationship between the real
exchange rate and firm productivity. Using the
difference-in-differences methodology, a persistent real
appreciation in VND has a positive effect on firm
productivity in the Vietnamese manufacturing sector. One of
the mechanisms that could explain this effect is that real
appreciation boosts firm productivity through R&D. Small and
medium-sized firms benefit more from real appreciation than
large firms. |
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ISEAS |
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Strategic Policies for Digital Economic Transformation: The
Case of Malaysia, November 2022.
Malaysia’s first attempt at digital economic transformation
began in the mid-1990s and lasted for some 15 years. The
Multimedia Super Corridor has some initial success but
underachieved in some areas. The second phase of strategic
policies took place in the period 2016-2021 with the launch
of four successive policies and plans dealing with
e-commerce, 4IR manufacturing and digital economy. The legal
and regulatory landscape for the digital economy has also
evolved. Significant challenges lie ahead given the
prevailing digital divide and unevenness in ICT adoption
across industries. |
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ISEAS |
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Finland-Taiwan Relations: An Overview and Changes after
COVID-19 Pandemic, December 2022.
Despite the lack of formal diplomatic relations between
Finland and Taiwan, the two sides have maintained a
practical relationship through trade, tourism, and
educational and cultural exchanges. The COVID-19 pandemic
has created some favorable ground for certain breakthroughs,
be it in terms of the Finnish government’s action plan to
support Taiwan’s meaningful international participation,
Finnish reports that offer more diverse views on Taiwan’s
society beyond international politics, or a Finnish
parliamentarian’s help in implementing Taiwan’s mask
diplomacy in the Finnish context. In general, the Foreign
Ministry in Finland has been vigilant in ensuring that the
One China Policy does not become unnecessarily
restrictive... |
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ISDP |
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Japan Leads the Way in Global Health Diplomacy: The Case of
Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), December 2022.
This issue brief aims to investigate Japan’s policy toward
“neglected tropical diseases” (NTDs) in light of Japan’s
global health diplomacy. It confirms the significance of the
so-called ‘Hashimoto Initiative’ as the origin of Japan’s
global health diplomacy toward NTDs. This issue brief looks
at the three cases of NTDs in Japan, i.e. dengue fever,
Hansen’s disease, and lymphatic filariasis, and how Japan
succeeded in controlling and eradicating the diseases
domestically. It then examines the significance of the
establishment of the Global Health Innovative Technology
Fund (GHIT Fund) in relation to Japan’s global health
diplomacy. Finally, it explores the future scenario of
Japan’s global health diplomacy to control and eradicate
NTDs at the G7 Hiroshima Summit to be hosted by the Kishida
administration in May 2023. |
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ISDP |
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Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022 Supplement: Global Gloom
Dims Asian Prospects. Global and regional developments since
September have been roughly in line with pessimistic
expectations laid out that month in the Asian Development
Outlook 2022 Update. The world economy chugged along in the
third quarter (Q3) of this year but is now set to slow markedly,
weighed down by weakening in the United States, euro area, and
People’s Republic of China (PRC). Persistently elevated
inflation in the US led the Federal Reserve to raise its policy
rate in November by 75 basis points, the fourth consecutive hike
of that magnitude. Despite a resilient labor market, investment
prospects and consumer confidence worsened, suggesting that the
Q3 rebound to seasonally adjusted annualized growth of 2.6% will
be short-lived... |
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Publications:
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Pacific Economic Monitor – December 2022: The Future of
Social Protection in the Pacific
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Developing Airport Systems in Asian Cities: Spatial
Characteristics, Economic Effects, and Policy Implications,
December 2022
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Battling Climate Change and Transforming Agri-Food Systems:
Asia–Pacific Rural Development and Food Security Forum 2022
Highlights and Takeaways
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Social Protection Indicator for Pacific: Tracking
Developments in Social Protection, December 2022
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Data Management Policies and Strategies in Government,
December 2022
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The Social Protection Indicator for Asia: Tracking
Developments in Social Protection, December 2022
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Liberalizing Services Trade in the Regional Comprehensive
Economic Partnership: Status and Ways Forward, December 2022
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Last Mile Connectivity: Addressing the Affordability
Frontier, December 2022
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The Impact of COVID-19 Mobility Restrictions on Trade
Facilitation at Borders in the Central Asia Regional
Economic Cooperation Region, December 2022
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A Comparative Analysis of Tax Administration in Asia and the
Pacific: Sixth Edition, Published 2022
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Critical Issues for Fiscal Reform in the People’s Republic
of China Part 1: Revenue and Expenditure Management,
December 2022
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Driving Inclusive Digitalization in Trade and Trade Finance,
December 2022
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The Green, Social, Sustainable and Other Labeled (GSS+)
Bonds Initiative for Southeast Asia, December 2022
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The Financial and Institutional Mechanism of the Sanitation
and Wastewater Management System: Learning from the Japanese
Experience, December 2022
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The Long-Term Growth Prospects of the People’s Republic of
China, December 2022
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Developing a Sustainable Agricultural Insurance System in
the People’s Republic of China, December 2022
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Unlocking the Economic and Social Value of Indonesia’s
State-Owned Enterprises, December 2022
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ADB |
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Latest ADB Working Paper Series:
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ADB |
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Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:
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Rural Development in Bangladesh Over Four Decades: Findings
from Mahabub Hossain Panel Data and the Way Forward,
December 2022
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Healthy Urban Rivers as a Panacea to Pandemic-Related
Stress: How to Manage Urban Rivers, December 2022
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ICT, Online Search Behavior, and Remittances: Evidence from
the Kyrgyz Republic, December 2022
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An
Overview of Climate Change, the Environment, and Innovative
Finance in Emerging and Developing Economies, December 2022
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Gender, Entrepreneurship and Coping with the COVID-19
Pandemic: The Case of GoFood Merchants in Indonesia,
December 2022
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ADB |
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Latest APEC publications:
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APEC |
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Hmong Studies
Journal,
Vol.
24, 2022 |
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HSJ |
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